Afro Basaldella 1950 Mixed Media on Paper
Item Details
Afro Basaldella (Italian; 1912 – 1976)
Untitled, 1950
Mixed media on paper
Signed and dated “Afro, 1950” to lower right
A mixed media composition on paper by celebrated Italian artist Afro Basaldella (1912-1976), created in 1950. Comprised of pastel, gouache, watercolor, and other materials, this work features an abstract design of overlapping angular and fragmented shapes in subdued hues. Signed and dated to the lower right, the work is presented under glass with white matting, and housed in a black composite wood frame.
Afro Basaldella was a member of the Scuola Romana, a group of Expressionists active in Rome. During his life, he exhibited at the Galleria del Milione in Milan; the Rome Quadriennale art exhibition; Documenta, Kassel in West Germany; and the Venice Biennale. In 1950, the artist traveled to New York where he began a twenty-year collaboration with the Catherine Viviano Gallery. Among his notable accomplishments is a mural titled The Garden of Hope, painted for the UNESCO headquarter in Paris, and was featured amongst works by other famed artists such as Picasso, Miró, Rufino Tamayo, and Alexander Calder, among others. Monographs on his work have been written by Guggenheim curator James Johnson Sweeney and Cesare Brandi. Afro’s work has been collected and exhibited by numerous institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to name a few.
Condition
- minor scratches throughout frame.
Dimensions
- measurement of frame; visible image measures approximately 12" W x 18.25" H.
Item #
18DCC800-037